Expedition Plans

Secret Compass is a Bristol-based risk management and expedition company, our ambitious projects seek to achieve the extraordinary in theworld’s wildest places. 

Over the last decade we have completed world-first trekking, packrafting and mountain biking expeditions across the globe, in locations as diverse as South Sudan, North Korea, Afghanistan, DRC and Panama’s infamous Darien Gap. Going to amazing places and delivering ground breaking adventures is at the heart of who we are. 

Alongside our expeditions, we are lucky to support a growing slate of TV and Film projects across the world spanning the breaking news, drama, natural history, reality TV and factual genres. 

With the world opening back up, and the company continuing to grow, Secret Compass is recruiting a NEW Expeditions Plans to assist us in developing cutting edge, world leading, never before achieved, expeditions in some of the most remote and challenging environments across the globe. 

Outline of role

The successful candidate will be an integral part of the Secret Compass Operations Team, focused on the delivery of high quality expedition planning and development. We want to create expeditions that don’t exist, so you will need to be an experienced adventurer and traveller. It is essential that you have practical experience in planning and delivering challenging and remote expeditions across the globe, but also you are able to think differently and creatively about what we might be able to do. 

Key areas of responsibility.

• Research and development. Searching for new ideas, places to go, things to do, globally. We are looking for imagination and a creative approach to searching for the next epic trip. You will primarily be developing new expeditions, but could be involved in bespoke trips or development of TV projects. 

• Information management. We already have hundreds of pretty cool ideas, and you are going to be adding to that, daily. We need to be able to catalogue and file this information so it is easily retrievable in the future. You are responsible for the encyclopaedia that are our ideas.

• Planning. Where required, help to deliver the required preparation, logistics and admin support for any project, anywhere in the world.

The successful candidate will ideally have experience of researching, developing and planning expeditions, most likely for their own personal travel, for TV and Film or for the expedition sector. 

This role requires a dynamic, fast moving, adaptable individual who takes a positive, solution-oriented approach to problem solving. Good report writing and a studious attention to detail is essential for the role and we are particularly looking for candidates who are highly organised and efficient, with excellent time management skills. In addition, the candidate will be personable, flexible, team focused and have a willingness to be client-facing.

On-the-ground experience and understanding of who we are and the type of expeditions we deliver is desirable for this role. This could be from the expedition, TV and Film or security sectors and we welcome applicants from a range of backgrounds. Similarly candidates who have professional or personal experience of, or interest in, working in remote outdoor environments or of the outdoor industry would be of interest. A working knowledge of ISO31000 and/or BS8848 is also advantageous but not essential.

Life at SCHQ

We're a fun team at SCHQ, we’re busy, with sections of the company spanning the adventure travel, TV and film, risk management, creative production and magazine industries, there is no such thing as a ‘normal’ day.

The dog-friendly office is situated in South Bristol within walking distance of shops, town and a park with many of the team choosing to walk or cycle to work – not exactly a hardship in the South-West’s adventure capital and ‘Best Place to Live in the UK’!

Our informal office is populated by ‘outdoorsy-types’ with hobbies ranging from climbing to cycling, horse riding to hiking, and surfing to skiing - and our annual staff days out often reflect these interests with previous trips including coasteering, SUPing and a mountain-bike pub crawl. 

Key benefits include:

• Competitive salary dependent on experience 
• Comprehensive onboarding and training programme including CPD opportunities
• 20 days leave (increasing each year) plus bank holidays and Christmas close-down
• Generous staff expedition policy and kit discounts
• Pension, cycle to work scheme and options to request specific benefits
• Relaxed dress-code, dog-friendly office, in-house bar, unlimited tea, coffee and strange international concoctions

This role will be open until Friday 10 February 2023, however, we may close recruitment early for the right applicant. Interviews for those selected will take place shortly after. Once the application process has closed, we will be in touch with candidates to let you know of any next steps. 

Apply HERE